So sorry i haven't updated this in a while but I have been busy with work, hanging out with my roommates, and doing things around Chicago. I think I have finally gotten into a routine and am exctied to be settled into my new home and volunteer year. Everything has been going really well so far. We love our house and the people we have met have been very generous and friendly. J-Bird and his wife Julie have been amazing and I cant thank them enough for taking us around the city and giving us plenty of food. Since Labor day we have been very busy with volunteering, dinners with the Augustinian Priests, a high school football game, tubbing on Lake Michigan, and last night we went to a White Sox Game, which was a lot of fun. Our seats were all the way up in the upper grandstand but the view was great. Funny moment: the guy sitting right next to me caught a fly ball which was very exciting but I'm sure we didn't get on TV or anything fun like that. As most of you know, the White Sox aren't the best team in the League so they lost horribly but it was still fun to experience a game. Although, it was really hard for me to cheer for a Sox team but thank goodness it wasn't the Red Sox (ps Boston/Merrimack ppl, how are the red sox doing by the way? :) )!! The crowd was fun too but of course not as crazy as Yankees or Red Sox fans. There were also fireworks after the game which was really cool to watch from our seats in a dark stadium. The ride home took a little bit longer then we thought, damn IL highways haha, but we made it home safely and got up this morning to go to work. Apparently we are going to a couple of parties this weekend with J-Bird and a family mass at St. Rita which should be a lot of fun. So theres my update for the fun stuff, now onto my volunteering.
I am still learning a lot about the computer system and my job position itself but its been getting busier which is nice. Last week I took public transportation into Downtown for a new student orientation which was a nightmare figuring it out but I made it there and back in one piece; well not one piece, the back of my heals were full of blood and blisters because of my new shoes but I survived haha. Come to find out, Nora Clark who I used to dance with lives right next to the Metra station I took but I didnt know this until last night, go figure. Then for Tuesday, Wednesday and today, I had to go to a training near downtown which I drove to each day because of course there was no trains around where I was. The training was long but it was all about the computer system we have to use for our clients so it was very useful and necessary. So today I got out of the training at noon and drove all the way back to the office just to eat lunch, do one chart, and have my boss tell me I can go home. So here I am sitting at home before all my roommates and enjoying my extra free time because this will probably never happen again. I still have a bunch of other random trainings to go to for various things but I am learning more each day which is exciting. O another thing, I went to a training/meeting last week about assessments we have to do and one of the things talked about was doing home assessments in tough homes that are in not so good conditions. When we were talking about this i remember stopping to think: How am I going be able to do this? Am I going be able to help these moms? Are they going even take me seriously? These are the questions that are running through my head as I sit in this meeting and hear my co-workers talk about horrific home visits and home assessments they have been on. Honestly these are questions I ask myself every day thinking about my job but the more training I get the more comfortable I become with the idea of going into peoples homes and helping them in any way that I can. My year as a case manager is not going to be easy but I am willing to take on the challenges and everything God puts in front of me.
Chicago Fact: The current major, Richard Daley, has served for 20 years and has decided not to run for reelection this coming February which will apparently cause a mess of the election process and the citizens of Chicago.
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